Margaret Mead
American cultural anthropologist
American anthropologist whose Samoa fieldwork, published in 1928, argued that adolescent turmoil depends on culture, and whose New Guinea work argued that gender traits vary between societies. Both books remain contested.
Why this person matters
Mead brought cross-cultural evidence into debates about adolescence and gender in psychology. Her work also shows how fieldwork conclusions can be challenged: Derek Freeman's 1983 attack on her Samoa findings became a long argument about culture and biology.
Main contributions
Coming of Age in Samoa
Her 1928 book was based on fieldwork in American Samoa that began in 1925. It argued that adolescent turmoil is shaped by culture rather than biology. Sources differ on her sample: one gives 68 females aged 8 to 20, with most data from 25 girls, another about fifty teenage girls.
Sex and Temperament
Her 1935 book was based on fieldwork in New Guinea from 1931 to 1933 with Reo Fortune among the Arapesh, Mundugumor and Tchambuli (Chambri). It argued that traits labelled masculine or feminine differ between societies.
Public and interdisciplinary role
She took part in the Macy conferences on cybernetics, worked as a curator of ethnology at the American Museum of Natural History and was president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1975.
Context and limits
Freeman argued that Mead's Samoan informants had misled her. One reference work records that the American Anthropological Association censured Freeman in November 1983 for errors in his critique. Her New Guinea portraits were also disputed by Reo Fortune, Nancy McDowell, and Deborah Gewertz and Frederick Errington. Critics said her work reinforced colonial views and romanticised Pacific Islanders. Sources differ on the year of her Columbia PhD (1925 or 1929), so none is given.
In your introductory course
Culture and diversity.Appears in the development and culture chapters in debates about adolescence, gender roles and the limits of cross-cultural evidence.
Related course reading: Psychology 2e, section 1.3. This is course context rather than a biographical source.
Years of active work
- 1925
Arrived in Pago Pago on 31 August to begin fieldwork in Samoa.
- 1928
Published Coming of Age in Samoa.
- 1935
Published Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies.
- 1975
Served as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
- 1983
Derek Freeman published a book disputing her Samoa findings.
Sources
- Encyclopedia.com, Margaret Mead (Gale reference)Reference work. Reference article inspected.
- Wikipedia, Margaret MeadReference work. Reference article inspected.